1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a master-slave manipulator apparatus for operating a slave manipulator upon the basis of instructions from a master manipulator and a method therefor, and further relates to a training apparatus for manipulator operation input and a method therefor.
2. Description of Prior Art
Conventionally, with so-called a master-slave manipulator of a type being driven responding to a force inputted from a manipulator, the master manipulator (however, in the explanation given hereinafter, this xe2x80x9cmaster manipulatorxe2x80x9d will be called by only xe2x80x9cmasterxe2x80x9d) drives a slave manipulator (hereinafter, this xe2x80x9cslave manipulatorxe2x80x9d will be called by xe2x80x9cslavexe2x80x9d) accurately with respect to the forces being operated thereto, thereby aiming to operate it freely without a feeling that something wrong. For that purpose, threshold values for driving the driver shafts of the master manipulator are set for each degree of freedom of the driver shaft, so as to decide the force inputs given to the master manipulator. In this case, however, this threshold value is set at a magnitude so that the application of the inputs can be decided or detected fully, with certainty, by expecting or estimating a safety factor therein, etc.
On a while, in cases where, for example, a tired or exhausted operator operates or manipulates under the condition of lucking her/his concentration thereto, and/or where she/he operates it while seeing the operation condition of the slave looking aside the master, and/or where a person not well-skilled or trained in operation tries to manipulate it, the operating inputs are made as if ignoring or denying the degree of freedom of the master, or an operator applies a force into a direction not intended, of unconsciousness, therefore, there can be occur a phenomenon that a movement which the operator does not intend occurs in the slave.
Further, even when trying to perform or make the same operation, there may be a case where the forces differ delicately, for each individual, in the manners of applying thereof, for example, depending on the difference in the dominant arm and/or habits during manipulation by the operators. Therefore, if applying a setup value(s) (i.e., a threshold(s)) being similar for all the operators, there may be caused a case where the will of the operator cannot be sufficiently reflected in the operation. In particular, in a case where the same master is commonly owned or used by a plurality of operators, or the like, if the set values of the master are fixed, some operator(s) cannot reflect her/his will in the operation input.
By the way, in such the master-slave manipulator system, as a measure for not only following the inputting operation by the operator, but also against the input not intended by the operator, as was already known in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. Hei 7-124165 (1995), there is proposed a manipulator system, wherein an acting point of the slave is calculated upon the basis of the sight line(s) of the operator, and further the positional difference thereof from the acting point indicated by an operation input means is obtained, thereby driving and controlling the slave so that the position of the acting point comes to be that acting point which the operation input means indicates, only when the positional difference is smaller than a predetermined value.
With such the manipulator system, namely under the environment where the slave is operated, in particular, in cases where there is an object around which should be escaped an external force from being applied to, and/or where the external force should be escaped from being applied to the environment itself around the object, i.e., in a scene where the will of the operator must be transmitted to the slave with accuracy or correctly, it is very dangerous that the slave makes a movement which is not intended by the operator, or that it takes a position not to be intended. Also, in particular, in a case where detailed and minute work is required by using the slave within a narrow space, there are often cases where no mistake will be allowed in the operation direction thereof.
On a while, in a case where trying to move the master, being restricted in the degree of freedom within the three dimensional space, into a certain direction thereof, a human, i.e., the operator may sometimes make an operation input so that the master is driven in a plurality directions of the degree of freedom at one time, not so far as she/he does not grasps the directions of the degree of freedom, in which the master can move completely, and is not always in her/his mind the direction thereof. Also, even if the operator tries to drive the master in only a certain degree of freedom, however she/he may also generate a force in the direction other than that of the degree of freedom at the same time in unconsciousness. For the human as the operator, it is rather difficult to move her/his hand only in one direction of the degree of freedom within such the three dimension space.
In this manner, according to the conventional art(s), there sometimes occurs the cases, where the slave comes to be in a position that the operator does not intend, since the operator occasionally drives the master into the plural directions of degree of freedom at the same time, or where the slave performs a movement that the operator does not intend by forces being generated unconsciously. Namely, it comes to be a problem whether the force(s) inputted through the master reflects the intention of the operator correctly and accurately or not. In other words, according to the conventional art(s) mentioned above, there may occur the case where the master manipulator also responds to the force(s) not intended by the operator, correctly and accurately, even when is inputted thereto the force, though it is not intended by her/him.
For such the problems, as described in the conventional art(s)mentioned above, in the case where the threshold values are set for the directions of the degree of freedom for the driver shaft of the master, respectively, so as to recognize the input thereof during the operation, it may be possible for the operator to input operation(s) reflecting the intention of her/himself correctly and accurately, if she/he could grasp the directions of degree of freedom of the master and also could make only an input along with that of the degree of freedom intended by her/him. But, such the operation necessitates a concentration of attentions by the operator. However, it is impossible for the operator to keep such the operation condition, necessitating such the concentration of attentions, for a long time.
For example, in the operation while seeing or looking at the working objet, or in the operation under condition of making her/his eyes off from the master, or in the operation under the operation where the tiredness is accumulated so that the concentration is lost, or in the operation that the person who is not well-skilled or trained performs, an easy operation is likely to be conducted by imaging the movement of the slave intuitively, and in such the instance, since the operation is conducted by neglecting or denying the directions of degree of freedom, in which the master can drive, strong forces come to be operated in plural directions of degree of freedom. In particular, in a case where the above-mentioned threshold values for recognizing the presence of the input from the master are set to be relatively low, so as to make it operable with a light force, it is further difficult to separate the force, acting in such the unconsciousness to the master, from that in the direction intended by the operator. In such the case, even if a large threshold value, being recognizable only the input which the operator intends, is set for each direction of the degree of freedom for the master, there also may occur a case where the large force is inputted in the driver shaft (the degree of freedom) other than that on which the operator intends to. In such the case, also the slave comes to make a movement which the operator does not intend.
By the way, in the manipulator control system known from the Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. Hei 7-124165 (1995) mentioned above, the direction which the operator intends to is defined by means of the sight lines of the operator, however, in the case where the positional difference, between the acting point calculated out on the basis of this sight lines and that which the master indicates, is within an allowable range, also the above-mentioned separation between the operation input which the operator intends and that not intended is not conducted. Then, other than the operation input which the operator intends to, but even the operation input which is not intended is also taken into consideration, therefore the slave performs also such the movement that the operator does not intend to. Also, according to the conventional art mentioned above, in particular in the operation being extended for a long time, it is difficult to indicate the acting point always by the sight line, therefore the degree of tiredness comes to be harder than that of an ordinary operation, and in this sense, it may comes to be a cause of loosing the concentration, and it is rather dangerous to perform such the detail and minute operations by the manipulator under such the condition.
Therefore, an object according to the present invention, by taking the problems in the conventional arts mentioned above into the consideration, is namely to provide a master-slave manipulator apparatus and a control method therefor, wherein the slave will not perform such a movement that the operator does not intend in spite of the force being applied by the operator in unconsciousness, thereby reflecting the operator""s intention thereon correctly and/or accurately, and to provide further a training apparatus and a method therefor for training the operation input for such the master-slave manipulator apparatus as mentioned.
For achieving the object mentioned above, according to the present invention, first there is provided a master-slave manipulator apparatus, comprising:
a master manipulator for performing an operation input;
a controller for processing the operation input from said master manipulator; and
a slave manipulator operating upon basis of a drive instruction from said controller, wherein said master manipulator comprises:
a plurality of force detector means for detecting the operation input, and said controller comprises means comprises:
means for removing the operation input which is generated unconsciously in inputting the operation input to said master manipulator, upon basis of outputs from said plurality of force detector means.
Also, according to the present invention, there is provided the master-slave manipulator apparatus as defined in the above, wherein said unconscious operation input removing means comprises:
means for producing a generation pattern of the outputs from the plurality of force detector means of said master manipulator; and further
means for outputting the drive instruction at least to said slave manipulator, being removed from the operation input which is generated unconsciously, upon basis of the generation pattern of the outputs from the force detector means produced by said means.
Also, according to the present invention, there is further provided the master-slave manipulator apparatus as defined in the above, wherein said unconscious operation input removing means further comprises at least means for deciding a driver shaft in said slave manipulator, upon basis of the generation pattern of the outputs from the force detector means produced by said means.
Further, according to the present invention, there is provided the master-slave manipulator apparatus as defined in the above, wherein said decision means further comprises:
a memory means for memorizing a generation pattern of the outputs from said plurality of force detector means therein in advance; and
a comparing means, wherein at least the driver shaft in said slave manipulator is decided through said comparing means, by comparing the generation pattern of the outputs from said plurality of force detector means with the generation pattern which is stored in said memory means.
Also, according to the present invention, there is provided the master-slave manipulator apparatus as defined in the above, wherein said generation pattern producing means further comprises means for simplifying the outputs from said plurality of force detector means.
Further, according to the present invention, there is provided the master-slave manipulator apparatus as defined in the above, wherein said decision means further comprises means for collecting the generation pattern of the outputs from said plurality of force detector means corresponding to the driver shaft specified, so as to store it into said memory means.
And, according to the present invention, there is provided the master-slave manipulator apparatus as defined in the above, wherein said decision means further comprises means for identify of the operator, and said comparison means compares the generation pattern stored in said memory means to the generation pattern of the outputs from said plurality of force detector means, corresponding to an output of said identification means.
In addition thereto, according to the present invention, there is provided the master-slave manipulator apparatus as defined in the above, further comprising a plurality of means for detecting muscle potentials from an arm of the operator operating said master manipulator, wherein said controller comprises means for removing an inputting operation being generated unconsciously in the operation input of said master manipulator, upon basis of the outputs of said plurality of force detector means, and the outputs from said plurality of muscle potential detecting means as well.
Next, according to the present invention, also for achieving the object mentioned above, there is provided a control method for a master-slave manipulator apparatus, wherein a slave manipulator is driven and controlled corresponding to an operation input from a master manipulator, and said master manipulator comprises a plurality of force detector means, comprising following steps of:
detecting forces being applied onto said master manipulator by means of said plurality of force detector means;
producing a generation pattern of the plural forces applied to the master manipulator, being detected in said step; and
removing operation input applied unconsciously onto said master manipulator, upon basis of said generation pattern being produces.
Also, according to the present invention, there is provided the control method for a master-slave manipulator apparatus as defined in the above, wherein at least said operation input applied unconsciously is removed therefrom, by deciding the driver shaft in said slave manipulator, upon basis of said generation pattern produced.
And, according to the present invention, there is provided the control method for a master-slave manipulator apparatus as defined in the above, wherein at least the driver shaft in said slave manipulator is decided, by comparing the generation pattern produced with a pattern produced in advance.
Further, according to the present invention, there is provided the control method for a master-slave manipulator apparatus as defined in the claim 11, wherein the comparison with the pattern produced in advance is conducted after simplifying the generation pattern produced.
And, according to the present invention, there is also provided the control method for a master-slave manipulator apparatus as defined in the above, wherein there are further provided a plurality of means for detecting muscle potentials from an arm of an operator operating said master manipulator, and the operation input applied to said master manipulator unconsciously is removed by using also outputs from said plurality of the muscle potential detector means, when excluding the operation input applied to said master manipulator unconsciously.
Further, according to the present invention, also for achieving the object mentioned above, there is provided a apparatus for making a training of operating a master-slave manipulator apparatus, wherein a slave manipulator is driven and controlled corresponding to an operation input from a master manipulator, comprising:
a controller for processing the operation input from said master manipulator, wherein said master manipulator forming a training apparatus for operation input of the manipulator, comprises:
a plurality of force detector means for detecting said operation input, and wherein said controller comprises,
means for deciding presence of the operation input being applied by an operator unconsciously in the operation input of said master manipulator, upon basis of outputs from said plurality of force detector means, wherein the training of the master-slave manipulator apparatus is conducted upon basis of the presence of the unconscious operation input which is decided by means of said decision means.
Further, according to the present invention, there is provided the apparatus for making a training of operating a master-slave manipulator apparatus as defined in the above, further comprising means for generating an alarm depending on a result of decision by means of said decision means of the unconscious input operation.
Also, according to the present invention, there is provided the apparatus for making a training of operating a master-slave manipulator apparatus as defined in the above, further comprising a display means for displaying a result of decision by means of said decision means of the unconscious input operation.
And, according to the present invention, there is also provided the apparatus for making a training of operating a master-slave manipulator apparatus, as defined in the above, further comprising an identifying means of the operator.
Moreover, according to the present invention, also for achieving the object mentioned above, there is provided a method for making a training of operating a master-slave manipulator apparatus, wherein a slave manipulator is driven and controlled corresponding to an operation input from a master manipulator, and said master manipulator comprises a plurality of force detector means for detecting the operation input, comprising following steps of:
detecting forces applied onto said master manipulator by means of said plurality of force detector means;
producing a generation pattern of the plural forces applied onto the master manipulator, which are detected in the above step;
deciding a presence of an operation input being applied unconsciously by an operator in the operation input of said master manipulator; and
conducting the training for the operation input of the manipulator upon basis of the existence of the unconscious operation input by the operator, which is decided.
Further, according to the present invention, there is provided the method for making a training of operating a master-slave manipulator apparatus as defined in the above, further comprising a step of alarming the operator, upon basis of the existence of the unconscious operation input by the operator, which is decided.
Also, according to the present invention, there is provided the method for making a training of operating a master-slave manipulator apparatus as defined in the above, further comprising a step of displaying a result of the decision, upon basis of the existence of the unconscious operation input by the operator, which is decided.
Furthermore, the master manipulator (or only, the master), mentioned in the present specification, means or indicates an apparatus for operating instructions to the slave manipulator (or only, the slave) with degree of freedom being equal or more than three (3).
While, the slave manipulator (or only, the slave), mentioned in the present specification, means or indicates an apparatus, being driven upon the basis of the instructions from a controller processing information inputted into the master manipulator (or only, the master). Also, it includes a simulator for simulating movement of the slave, or similarly the display on a screen indicating the movement of the slave.
Further, the operation forces mentioned in the present specification means forces in three directions in a special coordinates system and torque in the respective directions thereof.
Namely, when a human, an operator conducts the operation input by using the master, a combination of the output results from the plural force detector means in a certain time period is expressed by a pattern. In this pattern are included not only the force inputted by the operator in consciousness, but also the force which is applied unconsciously in many cases. Then, according to the present invention, since there exists the direction of force being applied unconsciously other than the force in a direction of operation being intended, form view of the direction in which the master is operated, the directions in which a human can apply force with ease and with difficulty, and the directions in which the operation can be made with ease and with difficulty, etc., therefore it is possible to arrange or classify the operation inputs when trying to drive the corresponding driver shaft into a several patterns in advance. Then, from the pattern of this operation forces, the direction of force being applied unconsciously and the direction of force being inputted intentionally are decided by comparing thereof, and the driver shaft of the master is driven upon the result thereof.
However, as will be shown in embodiments which will be mentioned in details hereinafter, so as to meet with an individual habit of the operator, it is so constructed that a difference in way of applying forces by her/his dominant arm, etc., patterns of operation forces when driving the master in the respective degree of freedom (i.e., the driver shafts) are collected for each of the individuals, and a relationship between the pattern of operation force being calculated upon the basis thereof and the driver shaft can be recorded as a decision table being for exclusive use by the individual. Also, it is so constructed that, by conducting the identification of the operator before operation, the decision of the driver shaft is conducted by using the above-mentioned decision table of the operator her/himself, being registered.